Still Our Little Girl

Even though she has been all grown up for several years now Rene` is still our little girl. She came into this world more then three weeks before she was expected and has been running full speed ahead every since. She got to be the first for everything good, bad, and all that is between. When God created her he sure did know what he was doing because she has been the kind of kid that would do well even when her parents have no experience. She graduated from high school voted "most responsible student" by the teachers and staff at the school It is always good to have someone who is very responsible be the "big sister" to so many. She entered the United States Navy before her eighteenth birthday. Doing so at such an early age meant that she had to get her parents to sign for her. We only did so because we knew that she had thought this through long and hard so we gave her the opportunity to work harder and longer than most people ever do, to learn faster and more then she could have dreamed possible, and to carry the responsibilities to serve and protect our nation as she traveled around the world. While she remains in the Navy on reserve statue she is now pursuing a masters degree in occupational therapy.

Keep being the organized, hard working, caring, responsible person you have always been, and add that bit of sarcasm that comes around now and then too. Happy Birthday Rene`and maybe take a short break from anatomy to celebrate today, the bones will still be there tomorrow.

Free Time Trouble

The time that most people spend just enjoying life and all of its wonders such as listening to music, strolling along a path leading to nowhere, or just sitting down to catch your breath is the time when Lauren, Hanna, and Paul get themselves into the most trouble. They do not have a clue what relaxing is all about. They need every waking minute of their day with something scheduled. Never tell them to just go find something to do because if you do :

You will find the cute little face of Paul covered with black permanent marker.

You will find Hanna chewing her clothes up, pulling her hair our, or eating chunks of plaster board from the hole she has picked in the wall.

You will find Lauren screwing up the computer so bad that no one can use it for a week while we wait for the repairs to be made.

You will find all of the dresser drawers empty.

You will find the tooth paste creating some wonderful design all over the bathroom floor.
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You will find the contents of Mom`s purse in the clothes dryer.

It is exhausting to try to have enough things scheduled throughout the day to keep them out of trouble. This is a considerable issue since they all have very limited attention spans. Do you have any idea how many games of Uno can be played, how many pictures can be colored, how many Lego towers can be built, how many foam art projects can be completed, along with the daily chores, and whatever else Mom can dream up to do everyday. We go to the park, play outside, go to the library, take the play dough outside, have picnics, etc, etc and there are never enough things planned in the day to keep them from getting into trouble

I can not wait until school starts next week so that someone else can find things for them to do for at least a few hours of the day.

School Schedules

For the most part I do not have to worry about the schedules for classes because all of the kids are in special education for a majority of the time and we work those schedules out at the end of the previous school year if possible. Now I will need to go to school to advocate for the one kid who is in the regular classroom all of the time. Karre got her schedule and she was placed in three of the six classes that she had requested. There were also five alternative classes listed and she did not get any of those either. How does that work when they send this very large packet of material out is February of the previous school year with instructions of how to work as a team and register the kid for the things that will be most likely to benefit them and also meet the requirements for graduation. Now Karre has met all of the requirements for graduation plus a few extra so I am not worried about her graduating but I am concerned when they just put a kid in classes that they are not at all interested in such as publications and key boarding. This kid is very creative and interested in art and design so the elective classes that we had chosen for her were photography and art history. She has enough credits so that she could just have another study hall which is a waste of time, but the school only allows one study hall a day except for students in special education. Since Karre does not particularly mind taking six classes a day we will not try to push that button. We will attempt to get her in some classes where she can learn something that she is interested in. The second semester class schedule does not look any better. There is a class that she needs to take so that I can hire her as a PCA. This class really has nothing to do with the job but it is required in order to hire her before she turns eighteen, which I would like to do as she is more then qualified for the job in the first place.

There is one other matter that needs to be figured out as long as I am spending the whole day in the school office. I finally got an actual printout of Karre`s grades from forth quarter last year. In one of her classes she got an A- third quarter and a B+ the fourth quarter and for the final grade in the class she got a C-. Now I am not a math Major or anything but I do know that an A- and a B+ do not average out to a C-.

The craziness that a parent has to deal with never ends does it.

Hanna`s Birthday Meal

Usually Hanna grumbles and complains about everything we have to eat except deserts and junk food. Tonight I served Tater Tot Hot-dish for dinner. For anyone who is not very Minnesotan Tater Tot Hot-dish is ground beef, vegetables, and condensed soup mixed together and topped with Tater Tots. I do not make this very often because the four older kids do not like it at all. Two of them will not eat it and the other two will swap food so that the one who likes the Tater Tots has all of them and the one who likes the vegetables has them. Better yet they will give theirs to one of the younger kids and make themselves something different after everyone has cleared out of the kitchen. Well anyway we had the Tater Tot eaters here today so I made the stuff.

Hanna says "Hey can we have this stuff for my birthday"

Hanna`s birthday is eleven months from now so she is sure thinking ahead.

Dad replies "I thought that you wanted fish for your birthday"?

That is the one other healthy food that Hanna likes. No one has a clue why she likes fish but she does.

Hanna thinks for a couple of minutes and then she says "could we have this stuff and mix fish in it too"?

Everyone at the table "Oh yuck, that's gross, Ochy, no way. and Lauren ,the stomach of steel who will eat ANYTHING says "I`ll come to your birthday, Hanna. What are we having for desert"?

In Karre`s World

In Karre`s world, the world of a normal, intelligent, creative, sweet, sixteen year old, things are a little different from what life is like according to Mom. It is so funny to listen to her when she gets ranting about things. Last night after the other kids had been organized for bed Karre and I went shopping.

First we stopped at the sporting goods store as she needed some new swim caps for practice. The one she has she says is making her look like an old lady as it makes her forehead wrinkled. I tried to explain that no matter what type of cap she wore her head might be wrinkled after spending four and a half hours in the pool every day. Anyway I got her the caps and a new swim suit to be put away for vacation as the four she has are being used for practice and yes. they look just awful. They are sort of a brownish gray and no longer have any shape to them, but they can be worn to practice since all of the other Chlorine queens have suits that look exactly like Karre`s.'

Next we went to the grocery store where I really embarrass her because I bring along the reusable grocery bags. I have twenty of them and they are all folded neatly and stuffed into one. According to Karre it is embarrassing to have to go coupon shopping but using those bags is even worse. I thought that her generation was into recycling, but I guess not. She wanted to pick out the cereal because the stuff I buy is bad. Its mostly Cheerios or Frosted Mini Wheat's. What she picked out was Raisin Bran, now I figured that she was thinking something a little less healthy but here again Mom is wrong. Raisin Bran I will buy, no problem.

I embarrassed her just one more time on the excursion because my mini van is just so soccer momish. Well I have never had anyone in soccer so I can`t really be a soccer mom and this van is the one I have because it is one that could be converted to transport Lauren`s power wheelchair. I told Karre that the soccer momish van would have to do today when she wanted to drive to the high school for swimming or she could walk.

She said "I can live with being embarrassed a little bit".

Going It Alone

Yeah, the way things worked out today I am going it alone with the four younger kids.

Dad is of course, at work getting "money for his pockets" as Paul puts it on a daily basis.

Karre has four and a half hours of swim practice today and also a pizza party with the swim team too.

All of the PCAs are unavailable to work today except the one who has worked the maxim allowed hours for the week.

Lauren, Allen, and Hanna had school this morning as they are involved in a jump start program for kids who have trouble with transitions. That left me here with Paul

When everyone else is gone he is glued to me no matter what I try to do. I along with my wonderful help tried to fold a load of laundry but he kept putting the clean underwear on his head and said they were his hats. After I had confiscated all of the underwear hats he took two towels to wear for coats. Finally I gave up and will not get the usual three or more loads of laundry done today.

We then went outside and I started removing the weeds that have taken over the front garden patch. Since it has rained a lot and the weeds came out easily, I did make some head way with the weeds until my helper pulled Trevor's pepper plant out, oh well I guess I won`t have to freeze them. I picked some tomatoes for lunch but quit when the helper picked a very green tomato and started eating it. It did not taste to good because he was spitting it out all over the place.

The other three kids came home at lunch time so I fed them and thank goodness for cartoons. They will give me a few minutes to re-group. I have a haircut appointment for Hanna, that I had scheduled a while ago assuming that I would have help today to deal with everyone else. This will be real fun as Hanna can not sit still while getting her haircut and I will have to bring all three of my wonderful helpers along too.

There is one good thing about days like this, that is I am really tired when they are done and I will sleep well tonight, that is if Hanna can keep quiet.

When A Plan Is Not A Plan

I am the type of person who likes to know what the plan of action for the day, week, and month are and that way things get done. The four youngest kids do best when things are run that way as well. They like lots of structure and routine. Now there are always things that come up which call for changes in the plan and I am flexible enough to work with that as well.

I had a PCA schedule worked out that met our needs around here and then even though the class schedules for our college student PCAs were here and we had figured out a plan of action more then a month ago it all fell through yesterday. One of our PCAs went to class as had been scheduled and found out that her entire schedule had been changed. They gave no explanation for the changes but the new schedule is a mess. She had intended to attend classes in the mornings and then be available to work when Paul got home from school. Now her classes mostly run from 4:00 to 8:00 in the evening. That is the time of day when everything goes absolutely nuts around. here. Hanna is bouncing off the walls after holding it together all day and her meds are about to wear off as well. Lauren will need help with homework. Everyone needs to be fed and showered, and on many evenings Karre will have swim meets which either I or her Dad will attend if at all possible.

Jared also found out yesterday that he will not have a job after his internship ends.. The bakery where he is working is laying two other people off at the end of the year so they certainly can not hire him. Needless to say he is not all that excited about the situation, but he is glad that he can come home and PCA so he is better off then all of his friends. The economy is teaching these kids some big lessons here. Now Jared is looking for an apartment to rest or a house to buy. It seems that around here it is more cost effective to buy something. The girl friend also wants to move down here so that also needs to be worked out. For the most part I am staying out of those matters as they are both adults. I will give my opinion if asked but they can do what they want to. The girl friend is a nice kid and he is very happy so that is what counts.

I need to go with Lauren to physical therapy and speech this afternoon. Documenting information for insurance in order to get her a communication device, is making me a little crazy as the pile of paper is really adding up.

The moral of the story here is that the best laid plans will change and life will go on even if it is not the way we envisioned it would.